By KEITH GRANT
But on Super Bowl Sundays, while the big game is usually being played miles away in some warm, southern or coastal city, a few dozen Long Beach residents do a similar strip out in freezing weather. While cameras will be clicking away, their purpose is far different from getting a little airtime. These are the Long Beach 'Super Bears,' and their venue is the Atlantic.
Founded three years ago by Kevin McCarthy and Pete Meyers, the event has grown to include more than 70 winter swimmers last year, and more than 100 are expected to take the plunge this year. The rules are simple: show up at 1 p.m. Super Bowl Sunday at Grand Beach, strip down to your bathing suit, and make a break for the ocean.
This year's event will have one new attraction, though. Proceeds from T-shirt sales will be donated to Make-a-Wish in hopes of granting a wish for a child dealing with a life-threatening illness.
"We started thinking last year about doing this for some charity," said polar bear Michael Bradley, whose son Paul died of cancer three years ago. "My brother suggested we do it for Make-a-Wish in honor of Paul. It was just a case of we were having fun and figured some sick kids should have some fun, too."
Bradley said the proceeds from the $20 long-sleeve shirts that will be for sale at the beach will go toward the goal of providing a sick child with a wish, the cost of which Bradley said typically runs about $5,800.
"We'd like to get as close to that as we can," he said. "We're people without any organizational skills. We just want to try to raise the money so these kids can have some fun after going through treatment. Hopefully, if not this year, then next year we'll be able to sponsor our own wish for a kid."
When Meyers and McCarthy started Long Beach's fastest-growing tradition three winters ago, they were simply looking for something different to do. The pair originally planned on joining the famous Coney Island Polar Bears for their New Year's Day jump into the ocean, but then figured their hometown beach was good enough for them.
"Since it was just the two of us, we said 'why go to Brooklyn?' We have the greatest beaches in the world right here," Meyers said. Deciding to use a different day than their fellow Coney Island bears, they settled on Super Bowl Sunday.
"We went in at 9 a.m.," Meyers remembered. "It was like 20 degrees out, and blustery wind. But we dove in and thought, 'This is cool. It's all right.'"
While winter surfing may be commonplace in Long Beach, January swims certainly aren't. But from that two-man ocean dive, Meyers and McCarthy managed to lure 15 fellow swimmers the following year in sub-freezing conditions. The swim grew to a phenomenon last year as roughly 70 people took part.
"Everyone's into it," Meyers said. "In Long Beach, everyone has that connection to the water and the beach. And there really isn't anything between New Year's and St. Patrick's [Day], so it's kind of like having a new holiday."
This year's swim ought to have an even more exciting atmosphere, Meyers thinks, with the Giants playing in that day's Super Bowl.
"Every year I did this, I was drowning my sorrows that the Giants weren't in the Super Bowl," Meyers said. "Last year, I even said that I would do it until the Giants won a Super Bowl."
And if they win?
"Ah, I'll keep doing it."
Though it's also tradition that more people say they will take the dip than actually follow through with it, Meyers said most of those who come down intent on giving it a shot usually do.
"Last year, I don't think many people chickened out," he said. "Some might not have gone all the way under, just waist deep and said 'Oh, this is cold!' But I think everyone who came down went in."
As insane as the idea may seem to some people, Meyers insisted "It's just a blast. It's really a lot of fun. And the more people that do it, the more positive waves we can send down to the Giants."
Bradley suggested that even with the charitable attachment to this year's event, the swim remains nothing more than a fun event for those who take the cold dive.
"Having fun is what it's really all about," he said. "It's a nice way to start off Super Bowl Sunday."
And if bad weather strikes?
"We're going in, anyway. We're polar bears."
Though it usually proves to be warmer in the water than on land, that argument doesn't convince most observers -- who will more than outnumber the swimmers -- to go home for their bathing suits.
As Meyers reminded a journalist that a former Long Beach Herald editor took the dive last year, he asked into the phone, "Are you gonna do it?"
No comment.
